What a simply unnecessary two-step we do with college coaches. We expect them to take the blame for every loss. They realize that expectation. So, they usually pay lip service to our request. But, down deep they know in most games that if execution of the game plan had been better the result would have been better. In some cases, they know they simply did not have the horses to compete.
A good friend played safety for Bear Bryant. The Bear was great at taking the full blame for every loss on his Sunday show; between munching Golden Flake chips and sipping Coca-Cola he would loudly complain about what a sorry job he had done. On Monday after a loss, the players never received apology from the coach for his poor performance on Saturday. Instead he put them through hell. They worked hard. They heard a lot of yelling and cussing from the coaches. They ran extra sprints. They hit at full speed. Even the menus at the dining table were changed after a loss. The Bear may have played along with saying to the fan base the loss was his fault; but you would have never guessed that was how he truly felt if you played for him at practice the next week.
